|
|
|
|
|
California EnglishCalifornia English is a variety of the English language spoken in the U.S. state of California. The most populous of the United States, California is home to a highly diverse populace, which is reflected in the historical and continuing development of California English. As is the case of English spoken in any particular state, not all features are used by all speakers in the state, and not all features are restricted in use only to the state. However, there are some linguistic features which can be identified as either originally or predominantly Californian, or both. History English became spoken in the area now known as California on a wide scale beginning with a considerable influx of English-speaking European-Americans during the California Gold Rush. After rapid growth from internal migration (from all parts of the United States) through the end of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century California became increasingly populated by peoples from all over the world who have contributed to the historical development of California English. Phonology As a variety of American English, California English is similar to most other forms of American speech in being a rhotic accent (historically a significant marker in differentiating different English varieties). Several phonological processes are noted as being common to California English, although it should be noted not all Californians may participate in these specific speech patterns and these characteristics may be noted in areas outside of California, as well. - Front vowels are raised before velar nasal , so that the near-open front unrounded vowel and the near-close near-front unrounded vowel are raised to a close-mid front unrounded vowel and a close front unrounded vowel before. This change makes for minimal pairs such as king and keen, both having the same vowel , differing from king in other varieties of English. Similarly, a word like rang will often have the same vowel as rain in California English, not the same vowel as ran as in other varieties.
- The vowels in words such as Mary, marry, merry are merged to the open-mid front unrounded vowel
- Most speakers do not distinguish between the open-mid back rounded vowel and open back unrounded vowel , characteristic of the cot-caught merger. A notable exception may be found within the city limits of San Francisco, whose native inhabitants' speech somewhat reflects a historical East-Coast heritage which has probably influenced the maintenance of the distinction between words such as caught and cot.
- According to phoneticians studying California English, traditionally diphthongal vowels such as as in boat and , as in bait, have acquired qualities much closer to monophthongs in some speakers of California English. However, the continuing presence of slight offglides (if less salient than those of, say, British English) and convention in IPA transcription for English account for continuing use of and .
One topic that has begun to receive much attention amongst scholars in recent years has been the emergence of a vowel shift unique to California. Much like other vowel shifts occurring in North America such as the Southern Vowel Shift and the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, the California Vowel Shift is noted for a systematic chain shift of several vowels. This image, taken from researcher Penelope Eckert's webpage, does not use IPA but provides a useful visualization of the vowel shift now taking place. It is worth noting that while it describes the "Northern California Vowel Shift" (where Eckert conducts research), scholars have found the same processes occurring in Southern California, as well. The "vowel space" of the image is a cross-section (as if looking at the interior of a mouth from a side profile perspective); it is a rough approximation of the space in a human mouth where the tongue is located in articulating certain vowel sounds (the left is the front of the mouth closer to the teeth, the right side of the chart being the back of the mouth). A similar chart only using words to illustrate the shift is less technical but useful in understanding how the California Vowel Shift works. As with other vowel shifts, several vowels may be seen moving in a chain shift around the mouth. As one vowel enroaches upon the space of another, the adjacent vowel in turn experiences a movement. Unlike some of the other vowel shifts, however, the California Vowel Shift is generally considered to be in earlier stages of development as compared to the more widespread Northern and Southern Vowel Shifts, although the new vowel characteristics of the California Vowel Shift are increasingly found amongst younger speakers. As with many vowel shifts, these significant changes occurring in the spoken language are rarely noticed by average speakers; imitation of peers and other sociolinguistic phenomena play a large part in determining the extent of the vowel shift in a particular speaker. For example, while some characteristics such as the Close central rounded vowel or Close back unrounded vowel for u are widespread in Californian speech, the same high degree of fronting for is common only within certain social groups. No matter the individual degree a speaker displays the emergence of the California Vowel Shift and its spread amongst younger speakers point to a future form of California English which will have undoubtedly diverged significantly from other varieties. Lexical characteristics The popular image of a typical California speaker often conjures up images of the so-called Valley Girls popularized by the 1982 hit song by Frank Zappa or "surfer-dude" speech made famous by movies such as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". While many phrases found in these extreme versions of California English of the 1980s may now be considered pass, certain words such as awesome and dude have remained popular in California and have spread to a national, even international, level. The use of the word like for numerous grammatical functions or as conversational "filler" has also remained popular in California English and is now found in many other varieties of English. California, as other Southwestern states, has borrowed many words from Spanish, especially for place-geographical names, food, and other cultural items reflecting the heritage of Latino Californians. High concentrations of various ethnic groups throughout the state have contributed to general familiarity with words describing (especially cultural) phenomena. For example, a high concentration of Asian Americans from various cultural backgrounds, especially in urban and suburban metropolitan areas in California, has led to the adoption of words like hapa (a person of mixed racial heritage—especially, but not limited to, half-Asian/half-European-Americans in common California usage) and fob (a newly arrived Asian immigrant). Not surprisingly, the popularity of cultural food items such as Vietnamese phở and Taiwanese boba in many areas has led to the general adoption of such words amongst many speakers. In such a car-obsessed culture as California, nomenclature referring to California's extensive network of freeways takes on a special prominence. One commonly noted difference between Northern California and Southern California English in describing freeways may be found in the use of the definite article the before the number of the freeway. For example, while most native or longtime Los Angeles residents are likely to refer to US Highway 101 or Interstate 5 as the 101 and the 5, residents of the San Francisco Bay Area are more likely to refer to those same roads at just 101 and 5 or I-5. Similarly, Northern California outsiders are likely to mark themselves as such by referring to San Francisco as anything other than San Francisco or the City. Influence of California English California English is in a somewhat unusual position amongst English varieties in that it is spoken in a state noted for its high concentration of media-related industries such as television, radio, and films, which are commonly broadcast throughout the United States and often the rest of the world. While scholarly linguistic studies have shown that media have little or no effect upon peoples' accents, the prevalence of California English in the media at least popularizes and increases familiarity with speech norms associated with California English. The desirable lifestyles and images often associated with the state of California undoubtedly lend prestige to the speech varieties spoken by its inhabitants. Even as California speech diverges from other dialects, some have argued the predominance of media and the prestige associated with California have elevated California English to a de facto form of "standard" American English, although that is contested by critics who maintain Midwestern English is still roughly the speech norm generally considered as General American or "standard" American English. Further reading - Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the Sounds of Languages. Peter Ladefoged, 2003. Blackwell Publishing.
- Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Suzanne Romaine, 2000. Oxford University Press.
- How We Talk: American Regional English Today. Allan Metcalf, 2000. Houghton Mifflin.
External links
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|